15th Annual NAACP Awards (6:09 minutes )
Performers: Cicely Tyson, Robert Guillaume, Lena Horne
Date: February 28, 1983
In 1982 the NAACP celebrated the Fifteenth Annual Image Awards by televising the ceremony for the first time. Actor Robert Guillaume served as the Master of Ceremonies. The NAACP bestowed the second annual Image Hall of Fame Award on Lena Horne, "entertainer par excellence, pioneer and civil rights activist." Actress Cicely Tyson made the presentation. Horne was escorted on stage by NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Hooks. In accepting the award, Horne paid tribute to her grandmother Cora Calhoun Horne and "sister" singer Billie Holiday.
The Fifteenth Annual NAACP Image Awards, A New Decade for Togetherness, December 5, 1982, Hollywood Palladium, featuring Lena Horne. Film. NAACP Collection, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress (138.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP